


The Missing Teen

by BadassBurgess



Category: Professional Wrestling, World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: Action, Crimes & Criminals, Drama, F/M, Kidnapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-22
Updated: 2020-02-22
Packaged: 2021-02-28 05:19:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22844689
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadassBurgess/pseuds/BadassBurgess
Summary: Adam Cole and SCPD's Intelligence Division are assigned the case of a teenage girl who has gone missing from home. Will the team be able to bring her back alive and well?
Relationships: Adam Cole/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 2





	1. Chapter 1

Mixing business with pleasure was something that Adam Cole enjoyed, if the opportunity presented itself. Tonight was one such occasion. He was about to attend an auction party at one of Stamford City's finest hotels, the Four Seasons. Expensive wine and food would be on offer, while high quality jewellery was auctioned off to the rich and famous guests. On Cole's arm for the night would be Lucy Thorne, his boss at Stamford City Police Department's Intelligence Division, and, unbeknownst to the rest of the team, his girlfriend of several months.

"Nights like this are exactly my kind of thing," Lucy said in a prim and proper English accent as they got out of opposite sides of the chauffer driven black saloon car that had brought them to the Four Seasons.

"It definitely is," Cole said, almost drooling as he waited for her to join him for the walk into the lobby. She sure looked the part, with her hair styled in loose curls that reminded him of an actress from the 1940s or 50s. The vintage theme continued with a sleeveless light grey dress that tastefully accentuated her athletic figure. The look was completed with glamourous black leather opera gloves and matching black high heels. She looked more Hollywood starlet than a former MI6 operative, and it turned Cole on big time.

For his part, Cole didn't look much like a detective either, with his long hair down and wearing an all white business suit, dark grey shirt and black bowtie. By his own admittance he was quite a vain, cocky man, and he looked forward to himself and Lucy putting the other guests to shame.

"Let's go knock them dead," he said as Lucy linked arms with him.

"Poor choice of wording," she said quietly.

Ideally, there would be no knocking anyone dead on this particular evening, although they were attending the event on undercover Intelligence Division business. One of detective Charlotte Flair's confidential informants had provided a tip off that the auction was going to be the target of an armed robbery. If so, it would be the third such auction robbery in Stamford in as many months. Commander Thorne intended it to be the last, too, if it happened. If not, then it would be an enjoyable night out, paid for on expenses.

"Good evening, sir, ma'am," a member of the hotel staff said when they made their way through the revolving door into the lobby. He was fairly young, with short black hair. Befitting the hotel, he was wearing an expensive back suit. "Are you here for the auction?"

"Yes, we are," Cole said.

"Take an elevator to the fifteenth floor. It is marked 'Conference Hall'. Have a good night."

"Thank you," Lucy said. They proceeded across the lobby, arms still linked.

"I have commander Thorne and detective Cole inside the hotel. Are you receiving me?" The voice belonged to officer Bayley Martinez, Intelligence Division's newest recruit. It came through a small earpiece that would be all but invisible to a casual observer. Lucy was also wearing one, along with a tiny microphone hidden in her left glove. Cole had one in his left cufflink.

Thorne made like she was scratching an itch on the side of her nose with a finger of her left hand. "Receiving you, Martinez," she said quietly, but loudly enough for the microphone to pick it up.

Martinez was outside the hotel, parked just up the street in an apparently ordinary and insignificant dark blue van. With her was Clementine Everett, Intelligence Division's tech expert, and Lucy's adopted daughter. The two of them were out there for surveillance, in case there was any sign of a crew of armed robbers arriving at the Four Seasons. Uniformed officers were staking out the rear entrance, able to make radio contact with Martinez if anything happened there.

"Do you think those microphones will pick it up if I tell you how sexy you look tonight?" Cole said once they were in one of the elevators.

"I don't know, but if they can, they probably picked up when you said it in the car, too."

"I did?" Cole asked, pretending not to recall it.

"You said you love vintage dresses, and find these gloves incredibly sexy for some reason. Trust me, I remember," Lucy said, gently stroking his cheek.

"Robbery or not, I want some sexy time with you in that outfit tonight."

"And there I was thinking I was the commander," Lucy said, putting some sultriness into her voice. Most people who knew her wouldn't have imagined she had that side to her, which only made it sexier for Cole, since he was on the receiving end of it.

The elevator door slid open on the floor where the auction party was being held, bringing the brief flirting session to an abrupt end. It was time to get their minds in the game, while pretending to look like they were just rich people on a night out. Classical music filled the air, along with conversation and laughter.

"Good evening," a smartly dressed waiter said as they walked through the open double doors into the conference room that was the venue for the festivities. The waiter had happened to be walking by the entrance with a tray half full of glasses of champagne. "May I offer you a drink?"

"You may. Thank you very much," Lucy said. When she spoke formally like that, her English accent became even prominent, making her sound very upper class. It was perfect for a setting like this.

Cole waited for Thorne to take a glass first, then helped himself to one. Tasting the champagne, he found it to be top quality stuff. It was hardly a surprise, given the venue.

"Lovely," Lucy said, savouring her first drink.

"It is," Cole said. "Shall we, what do they call it? Mingle?"

"Yes, that's the word," Lucy smiled. There was genuine happiness in it, even while they focussed on the job at hand.

Walking into the conference room, Cole saw a stage at the far end. Models would be up there later to show off the jewellery that the guests would be bidding on. There was a lectern at the front of the stage, where the auctioneer would do his thing.

Looking around the room, Cole made eye contact with Seth Rollins. Detective Rollins was also a member of Intelligence Division, as was detective Charlotte Flair, his supposed date for the evening. If any armed robbers did show up, they were going to have a big problem with four highly trained, armed detectives waiting for them. For now, Cole was carrying Thorne's gun under his suit jacket, since she had nowhere to conceal it with the dress she was wearing.

"Rollins and Flair are to our right," Cole muttered under his breath.

"I see them," Lucy replied quietly. "Don't you think they make a good looking couple?"

"They're probably thinking the same thing about us."

Lucy looked at him with the kind of expression that said she hadn't thought about other people picturing them as a couple before, and wasn't entirely happy about the idea. Cole was fine with that. They had already made the decision to keep the relationship private from the other members of Intelligence Division.

It wasn't long before the auction got underway. The first item was a silver necklace with three beautiful blue diamonds forming a pendant. It was modelled by a truly stunning blonde. Cole made sure not to let his gaze linger on her for too long.

"If only this job paid me enough to bid on that," Lucy said.

"You're the commander of this unit. I'm sure you make a fortune," Cole shot back. Banter was certainly not something they were averse to.

"I certainly don't make as much as I should for supervising you lot."

"Looks like Rollins makes more than you do," Cole said. He had spotted his colleague raising his hand to bid.

"He's just keeping up his cover," Thorne said. "Put it this way: if he can afford that necklace, he's on the take."

Cole laughed at that thought.

Sure enough, Rollins pulled out of the bidding before it came to a conclusion, to the feigned disappointment of Charlotte Flair.

"Uniform have got two men dressed all in black entering via the staff entrance at the rear," Martinez's voice said through the earpieces.

"Sounds like we could be in for some action," Thorne said quietly to Cole as she made eye contact with Rollins and Flair, giving them a small nod. They would have heard the same message from Martinez, and were now prepared to act.

Alerting everyone in the room was a possibility, but Thorne had decided ahead of time that if armed robbers stormed in, the Intelligence Division team would initially do nothing, allowing the situation to start unfolding before striking swiftly and effectively against the perpetrators.

A couple of minutes later, three men wearing black suits and ski masks emerged from the elevator. Rushing into the conference room, they started screaming at everyone to get down on the floor, and one of them fired a warning shot into the ceiling.

As screaming and panic filled the room, Cole handed Thorne her gun, also drawing his own. Their actions were covered by the mass of bodies around them.

"Get down, I said!" one of the men screamed, pointing his gun towards the group of people where Thorne and Cole were standing.

People started complying with the instruction. As well trained and used to working with each other as Intelligence Division were, they could often tell what each other were thinking without needing to verbalise it. Cole knew that this would be one such occasion.

The element of surprise was against the team of robbers. The last thing they expected was four armed operatives in the crowd. For that reason, the first two never stood a chance. As the crowd dropped to the floor, the Intelligence Division team remained standing. Thorne dropped one of them with a shot to the head. At the same time, Rollins dropped another, who had been standing a few feet from the first.

In the blink of an eye, among more terrified screaming, only one of the thieves remained. He was over by the lectern. Turning around and seeing that his buddies had both been expertly shot in the head rapidly changed his outlook on life. Standing and fighting was an option he ruled out instantly. Instead, he ran for a nearby fire exit.

"After him, Cole!" Thorne yelled.

Cole was already on the move before he got the instruction, as was Rollins. Not having to deal with wearing high heels, it was now up to the men to chase the fleeing suspect, leaving the two women to calm down the panicking members of the public in the conference room.

Charging through the door to the fire escape staircase, Cole had his gun at the ready. He could hear that he wouldn't be using it any time soon, as the sound of fleeing footsteps came loud and clear from a couple of floors below him.

"Suspect fleeing on foot down the rear fire escape!" Cole yelled into his hidden microphone.

"Let's catch the son of a bitch!" Rollins said, charging past Cole and down the stairs.

Cole took off after his colleague, both running down the stairs as fast as they could. The suspect had a good lead over them, and was a fast runner. Cole realised they were not making any ground on him. There was a possibility that he might lose them when he reached the ground floor and got out onto the street.

"He's getting away!" Rollins shouted when they heard the fire exit doors on the bottom floor clatter open.

When they reached the bottom floor themselves and emerged into the night, they saw that their prediction had been incorrect.

"On your knees! Hands behind your head!" Bayley Martinez was shouting at the suspect, who was still wearing his ski mask. His gun had been dropped to the floor. Martinez had her weapon pointed right between his eyes from a few feet away. She had apparently run over from the van that she had been stationed in to stop the pursuit in its tracks.

Rollins moved in to kick the gun away as the suspect obeyed the instruction that he had been given, kneeling down on the concrete.

Martinez kept her gun on the suspect, but used her other hand to toss a pair of handcuffs to Cole, who moved in for the arrest.

"You're under arrest for attempted armed robbery, and armed robbery," Cole said as he cuffed the man's hands behind his back. With that done, he ripped the ski mask off the suspect's head.

"You!" Cole exclaimed. It was the man who had greeted him and Lucy in the hotel's lobby when they had arrived.


	2. Chapter 2

The sound of a cell phone ringing woke Adam Cole up early on the morning after the attempted auction party robbery, much to his annoyance. It wasn't even his phone. It was Lucy Thorne's, sitting on the nightstand on the other side of the bed.

"Bloody hell," the commander groaned, rolling over to pick it up. Cole listened her groggy-sounding side of the conversation.

"Thorne."

"Hello, Ronda. Yes, you did."

"Alright, we'll be there as soon as we can. Text me the address."

"Did Rousey just apologise for waking you?" Cole asked as the call was ended.

"Yes, but I'm sure she didn't mean it," Thorne said, kicking her way out of the blanket. "Come on, get up. We've got a case." Her phone bleeped, indicating that a message had been received.

"What case?" Cole asked, slowly sitting up in the bed.

"A missing teenage girl. Uniform have been on it for two days. They suspect it isn't a runaway. I'm going to text the address to the rest of the team, and we're going to be there in half an hour. I'm first in the shower, too."

"I could just join you?" Cole suggested hopefully, looking at her gorgeous body in the dim light filtering through the curtains in her bedroom. Staying over at her place was something he could get used to. Being woken up by Sergeant Rousey, not so much.

"Nope. There's work to be done now. You'll have to hope there's an opportunity for sex tonight or something."

"I've always been an optimist," Cole called after her as she walked into the bathroom.

* * *

For the purposes of keeping their relationship secret, Cole arrived at the address a minute before Thorne. The rest of the team were also there before the commander, as she would expect of them. They were at an ordinary residential address, with no obvious signs of a crime having taken place. Cole was not surprised because he knew why they were there, but he didn't let on to the rest of the team because they did not, as yet.

"We've got a missing teenage girl," Thorne told them when they assembled at the bottom of the short driveway. There was a squad car parked on it. "Uniform have been working it for two days. Apparently they don't believe it's a runaway, and they suspect foul play. Sergeant Rousey is here. She's going to give us more information."

"This is the AJ Mendez thing," Bayley Martinez said. She was the newest Intelligence Division member, and the only one who was technically a uniform cop, not a detective. "My girlfriend is out of town on a training course, so I took overtime last night to help with the search," she explained.

The house's front door opened and Sergeant Rousey walked out to see them. "Commander," she said in greeting to Thorne.

"Sergeant," Lucy replied. "What's the deal?"

"The missing girl is April Mendez, commonly known as AJ. She's sixteen, a shy, socially awkward girl who hardly ever leaves the house apart from to go to school. She stopped texting her boyfriend on Saturday afternoon, and hasn't been heard from since. Zelina Vega, AJ's cousin, and Aleister Black, Zelina's boyfriend, were in the house at the time. Zelina is a carer for AJ's mother, Rosa, who is disabled. They have both said they didn't see AJ on Saturday, but they knew she was in the house because there was loud music coming from her room. Zelina was in the kitchen washing dishes when she heard the music stop. A couple of minutes later, she heard footsteps storming down the stairs, and the front door slammed. That was the last encounter we've got with AJ. Her phone, iPad, and a change of clothes are gone from her room, but the chargers for both devices are still there."

"No phone activity? No contact with any friends or family?" Cole asked.

"Her phone hasn't been turned on since she went missing," Rousey said. "No one has seen her, and she hasn't been in contact with anyone. Rosa is losing her mind, insisting AJ would never do something like this. I thought it was time to hand this one over to you, if you'll take it?"

Cole knew what the answer was going to be. Thanks to her relationship with Clementine, one thing Lucy was sensitive to was a bond between a mother and a daughter.

"We'll take it," Thorne said without hesitation. "Is the mother at home?"

Rousey nodded.

"Rollins, work with Sergeant Rousey. You're taking over command of the search team," Thorne ordered. "Flair, Martinez, you go inside and talk to the mother. Tell her we want to set up a press conference for her to appeal to AJ to come home. This still might not be foul play, so we cover all bases. Cole, you and I are going to speak to Vega and Black. Sergeant, I need their address."

Impressively, Rousey read it out from memory. "I've spoken to them twice to ask them to come to the station for an interview. So far, they haven't shown up."

"I'm not going to be asking," Thorne assured her, turning to head for her car. She stopped for a moment and turned back to face the sergeant. "I want a forensics team in that house. Give it a once over from top to bottom."

"I'll get on it now," Rousey pledged.

As he followed the boss to her car, Cole couldn't help feeling turned on. He was a sucker for Lucy talking like that. As a former MI6 operative and the commander of Intelligence Division, she was a serious badass and great at exercising her authority, and that was a powerful aphrodisiac.

Now wasn't the time for his dick to be thinking for him though, he reminded himself as he got into the car. She had a silver Aston Martin, a brand that said British and classy.

"This one doesn't sound good," Cole said as he got into the passenger side of the two seat sports car.

"No, it doesn't," Thorne said. She fired up the powerful V12 engine and pulled slowly away down the quiet residential street. "The fact that these two are trying to swerve an interview tells me a lot. They're going to be answering some questions when we get there, that's for sure."

"If we find them at home I'll be asking them why they're not out searching," Cole said.

"Yes, another good point. Let's see what they have to say for themselves."

Just under ten minutes later, Thorne pulled the car up outside the address they had been given. From the outside, it looked like an unremarkable, small home. The front lawn was recently mowed, and the house seemed well maintained. There was a Ford parked outside that had seen better days.

"Looks like someone's home," Cole said.

"Good. Let's go and get some answers. I'm going to tell them it's in their best interest to get down to the station today."

They got out of the car and walked up to the front door, where Cole ignored the doorbell, knocking loudly instead.

It took almost thirty seconds for the door to be opened by a tall man with long hair and a beard. He was wearing a t-shirt and a pair of shorts, revealing that he was covered in tattoos. Rough-looking was the first impression Cole got.

"Yeah?" the man said.

"Aleister Black?" Thorne asked.

"Yeah."

"Thorne, Cole, SCPD Intelligence Division," Lucy said, showing her badge. "We'd like to come in and ask you some questions about the disappearance of AJ Mendez."

It looked for a moment like Black might try telling them to fuck off, but then he thought better of it. "Alright, come in. Excuse the state of the place. I've been stocking up on stuff to fix up and sell."

Cole followed Thorne into the house. In contrast to the outside, the interior was a mess. There were cookers, microwaves, radios and even a refrigerator strewn all down the hallway. It didn't look like there had been much fixing up and selling going on for a long time. There was a strong smell of cats and cat shit in the house. Cole saw two different cats before they even made it to the living room.

"Who was it?" a woman called out just before the group walked into the living room.

Cole saw a beautiful Hispanic-looking woman lying on a couch, along with another couple of cats. On the TV in front of her, some kind of video game was paused. She didn't look pleased to see them, even before she got the answer to her question.

"Cops," Aleister said. "They're here about AJ."

"Has she come home?" Zelina asked, standing up to speak to them.

"No, she hasn't," Thorne said. "Tell me, why haven't you been to the station to be interviewed yet? I know you've been asked twice."

"We were going to. Things kept coming up," Zelina said.

"So I can see," Thorne said dryly, looking at the TV.

"I strongly recommend you attend a formal interview today, as well as answering our questions now," Cole said.

Aleister and Zelina looked at each other before he answered. "Alright, we'll come to the station today."

"Good. Now, tell me what happened on the day AJ went missing. I'm told the two of you were in the house and you heard her leave?" Thorne said.

"That's right," Zelina said. "I go round there most days to help my aunt, Rosa. She gets the help she needs, and she pays me a bit for doing it. She was out that morning. She's got one of those mobility scooter things to get around on. Anyway, I was washing the dishes when I heard the music in AJ's room stop. Not long afterwards, I heard her come down the stairs, then the front door banged shut."

"She didn't say anything to you?" Cole asked.

"No. I didn't speak to her at all that day. Neither of us did. She was up in her room and we didn't go upstairs."

"And where were you when AJ left?" Thorne asked Black.

"In the garden. I mowed the lawn that day."

"Okay. Do you mind if we have a look around?" Thorne asked, making it sound like it wasn't really a question.

"Don't you need a warrant for that?" Zelina asked.

"We need a warrant to search the place. I asked to have a quick look around. Have you got a problem with that?" The way Thorne spoke conveyed that she would view a refusal as highly suspicious.

"Of course not. Help yourselves," Aleister said.

Saying nothing, Cole followed the boss out into the hallway and through to the kitchen. Like the hallway, it was full of busted appliances that were being hoarded for no apparent reason. There was other general clutter strewn around the place as well, and a stack of dirty dishes in the sink. Having a messy home wasn't illegal, though. Nothing stood out as suspicious.

Proceeding upstairs, Cole wondered what the chances were of finding AJ tied up in one of the bedrooms and ending this thing before it got started.

There was no such luck. All they found in the two bedrooms was more clutter and a general lack of cleanliness.

At the end of the landing there was a door that was closed. Cole noted that fact because all of the other doors had been open. While Thorne was in the second bedroom, he pushed the closed door open. It revealed a bathroom. Like the other rooms, there was clutter in there. One thing did stand out to him, though. "Lucy!" he called.

"Have you got something?" the boss asked, quickly coming to join him.

"Yeah. Why is that bathtub so clean when the rest of the house is a dump?" Cole wondered.

The bathtub was literally gleaming white. As he had observed, it was quite a contrast to the rest of the house.

"Someone has given it a thorough going over," Thorne agreed. "I'm starting to like these two for this. Get working on a search warrant for this shit hole, and I want both of their phone records, social media posts, messages, calls, internet use, the lot."

"You got it," Cole said. "Shall we keep this quiet from them for now?"

"Yes. We need to get them in for that interview, and we don't have anything to arrest them for. Let's let them think they're just coming in for a chat. Once we get them in an interview room, we can start grilling them properly."


	3. Chapter 3

"They're both sticking to the same story," Cole said with some frustration. He was back in the Intelligence Division offices with Lucy Thorne, after they had spent all day interrogating Aleister Black and Zelina Vega. They would eventually have to be sent home because there was no evidence to charge them with anything. There were suspicions, however. For that reason, before they went anywhere, their house was going to be searched from top to bottom. Presented with the option of having the front door smashed in, Vega had handed over a key to commander Thorne.

"Yes, exactly the same story," Thorne said. She was sitting perched on the edge of Bayley Martinez's desk, while Cole stood in front of her. Both of them knew that when two potential suspects gave exactly the same statement, it suggested that they had colluded with each other ahead of time about what to say. They probably thought they were being smart by showing no inconsistencies, but it was actually a red flag for seasoned investigators.

Vega and Black were sticking to the story that they had gone to Rosa and AJ's house on the day that AJ Mendez had gone missing, but neither of them had seen AJ. They claimed that Black had gone to work mowing the lawn, while Vega had cleaned the kitchen and washed the dishes. During that time, Vega said she had heard AJ storm down the stairs and bang the front door shut on her way out.

A few minutes later, the conversation was interrupted when Thorne's cell phone rang. She saw the name Bayley Martinez on the screen. She touched the green phone icon. "Thorne."

"Commander, it's Bayley. The forensics team had just finished their search of AJ's bedroom. The found minute traces of blood on the door frame, and one on the wall. They were too small for the naked eye to see, but they were there. Someone must have cleaned up."

"Not well enough," Thorne said.

"Exactly. The samples will be sent off for analysis. We should get results tomorrow. They've found some of AJ's hair on a hairbrush, so they'll have something to match the DNA to if the blood is hers."

"Thanks, Martinez. I'm going to text you an address. We've just had a warrant approved to search AJ's cousin's house. I want you and Flair to meet Cole and I there. We've been questioning Zelina Vega, the cousin, and her boyfriend. Right now I like them for some kind of involvement in this, so we're going to tear the place apart from top to bottom. Forensics will be there too."

"Got it, boss. We'll meet you there," Martinez said.

Thorne ended the call and looked at Cole. "Forensics found traces of blood on the doorframe of AJ's bedroom. They're going to get it analysed."

"It's not sounding good, is it?" Cole asked. Everything he was hearing so far was leading him towards suspecting either kidnap or murder.

"No. But if we're going to find AJ, we need something that's going to force those two to start telling the truth. Come on, let's get back over to their house."

* * *

When he arrived at Vega and Black's house with Thorne, Cole saw Martinez and Flair were already there waiting for them, along with two forensics specialists. As he got out of the car, he worked his hands into a pair of black nitrile gloves, preparing for what was going to be a long search through all the junk that had been accumulated in the house.

"Okay, here's the plan," commander Thorne said, also putting gloves on. "Martinez, Flair, you're going to search downstairs. Cole, you'll be with me upstairs. We're going to tear the place apart. If there's anything that can lead us to AJ, whether she's dead or alive, I want it found." She looked at the forensics team. "I want you guys in the bathroom. We were here earlier today, and we noticed that the bathtub and the tiles are much cleaner than the rest of the house. It looks suspicious."

One of the forensics guys nodded. "We'll check it out."

"Alright, let's go," Thorne said, leading the way up to the front door. She opened it with the key she had been given, and led the team inside.

* * *

The search had been as long and laborious as Cole had expected. Even worse, it hadn't yielded anything to directly link either Black or Vege to an abduction or murder of AJ Mendez.

Among the collection of items that were being sent back to the station as potential evidence were a few things of interest. A laptop computer and an iPad had been seized. They didn't match the descriptions of AJ's missing items, so they presumably belonged to either Vega or Black. Cole knew that before long Lucy would have Clementine going through them both with a fine tooth comb, along with two potential suspects' entire social media histories, which she was already looking into. Searches, posts, direct messages, it would all be checked out.

"Right, unfortunately nothing to lead us directly to AJ," Thorne said, having gathered her team together in the living room to review the search once it had concluded. "However, we do have these." She pointed to a stack of magazines that Cole was holding.

"Porn?" Flair asked.

"I found these under the bed in the master bedroom," Cole said as he started flipping through some of the pages in the top magazine so that Flair and Martinez could take a look at them. The images all involved bondage, and the pictures were of what could at best be described as girls in their late teens. Either Black or Vega, or both, had a fetish that was particularly concerning, given the potential abduction of a teenage girl that was being investigated.

"Some of that is pretty hardcore, too," Martinez said. "I hope AJ isn't locked away somewhere like that."

Better that than if she's dead, Cole thought, although he agreed that the thought of the poor girl trapped somewhere, bound, gagged and terrified was appalling.

The forensics guys came down the stairs and walked into the living room to report on their work in the bathroom.

"Find anything?" Thorne asked them.

"Someone gave that tub and those tiles the cleaning of a lifetime. There's not a trace of anything apart from bleach and disinfectant products. There was also powerful drain cleaner poured down the drain."

Cole looked at Thorne and raised his eyebrows. Given the unkept state of the rest of the house, that amount of effort being put into cleaning the tub stood out like a sore thumb.

"Thank you," Thorne said to the forensics team before addressing her own people. "Okay, let's get the potential evidence we've found back to the station, then we'll call it a night. By morning, we'll see if Clem has come up with anything. We're going to have to kick Vega and Black loose for now. We've got nothing to hold them on."

* * *

Cole hadn't slept well. It was hard to while working on a case like this. He knew that Lucy felt the same way, which was why they had both risen early and gone into the office. Upon arriving, they had found Clementine in her office, working away.

"Morning. You're in early," Lucy said to her daughter.

"I didn't go home. Pretty much pulled an all nighter," Clem said, sounding suitably tired.

"You really shouldn't do that," Thorne said with concern.

Clementine avoided responding to that. Instead, she handed over a few sheets of paper. Cole could see that they were print outs of what looked like direct messages.

"I found a couple of interesting conversations on Facebook Messenger," Clementine said. "The first one is between Vega and Black, initiated by her."

Thorne showed the sheet to Cole as she read aloud from it. "Vega: I'm on the way home. Just saw such a hot girl. I nearly had to pick her up and bring her home. Black: You should have. Vega: If I had anything to tie her up with I would have."

"That shows they've thought about abducting someone before. That's huge," Cole said.

"Potentially," Thorne said. "But any lawyer with half a brain would tell them to make out they were joking. We're going to need something better before we can arrest them and make it stick."

"Try the next conversation," Clem suggested. "It's between Aleister Black and a guy named Andrade Almas. Almas is friends with both Black and Vega. I was just starting to look into him when you arrived."

Thorne showed Cole the second sheet and read it out. "Black: I have the five grand. The package is ready as soon as you can collect it. Almas: Okay, but don't message me on here again."

"That exchange was two days after AJ went missing," Clem said.

"We need to go and pick this Almas guy up," Cole said immediately. "I'd make a bet that 'package' was AJ, either dead or alive."

"I agree. Clem, get me an address for this Almas character," Thorne said. "Adam, you message Rollins, Flair and Martinez to update them. I've got a feeling that if we lean hard enough on Almas we could be about to break this thing wide open."


	4. Chapter 4

Andrade Almas lived in a small single storey house that was lacking anything in the way of attention, Cole saw as he parked one of the Intelligence Division SUVs outside of it. A low rider car sat on what had at one time presumably been a front lawn. The car currently had no wheels, and was sitting on stacks of bricks.

"Well, he won't be going anywhere in that thing," Rollins said as the team got out of the SUV. Also with them were commander Thorne and officer Martinez.

No one responded to the attempt at humour, least of all Thorne, who had the most fearsome of game faces on. Cases involving children and teens were always tough. There was a chance that they were about to get a break in this one, and Cole was going to stop at nothing to make that happen. The first thing they needed to do was arrest Almas.

"Cole, Rollins, go around the back," Thorne ordered as the group walked up the short, cracked, oil stained driveway. "Martinez, with me. We're going to arrest this bastard on suspicion of kidnapping. We'll leave the questioning until we're back at the station."

"Got it, boss," Rollins said.

Coke led the way down the side of the house. They found another car on the rear lawn, this one with the hood up and no engine inside. It provided good cover for Rollins to get behind, while Cole flattened himself against the house beside the back door.

Rollins raised his digital radio and said, "In position."

At that, Thorne pounded her fist on the front door. The sound easily carried around to the back. "Stamford PD! Open the door!"

A few moments later, the back door flew open. A Hispanic man with a ponytail and a beard came running out, until Rollins stood up from behind the car and pointed his gun at him.

"Stop right there! Get your hands up!"

The guy, presumably Almas, looking in two minds about whether to try and run for it. Cole calmly stepped up behind him and touched his gun to the back of his head. "On your knees," he said.

"Alright, alright," the man said, complying with the instruction.

"Andrade Almas?" Cole asked as he heard Thorne and Martinez making their way through the house after kicking the front door in, clearing it room by room.

"Yes. What the hell do you want? I haven't done anything," Almas protested from his kneeling position.

"Yeah? Then why did you run?" Rollins asked as Cole patted Almas down. Finding no weapons, he handcuffed him.

Thorne appeared in the back doorway, with Martinez behind her. The commander's order was delivered with intent to scare Almas. "Get him in the cage."

* * *

Andrade Almas sat in one of the cells, or cages, in the Intelligence Division basement. His hands were cuffed behind his back, and there was a pissed off look on his face. Cole and Martinez were over on the other side of the basement. It was the first time since Martinez had joined the division that someone had found themselves potentially on the receiving end of the kind of interrogation that Lucy Thorne favoured when she needed important answers quickly.

"Bayley, you need to understand what's about to happen if this guy doesn't talk," Cole said quietly.

"I think I've got a fair idea," Martinez replied.

"If you're not comfortable with it, you should go upstairs and send Charlotte down here in your place."

"There's a missing teenage girl out there. I'm not going to have a problem with how we find her," Martinez assured him.

Cole nodded. "Good."

The sound of footsteps coming down the stairs attracted their attention. It was Thorne. Cole and Martinez joined her as she walked over to the cell.

"Where's my lawyer?" Almas demanded of the commander.

"Where's AJ Mendez?" Thorne demanded icily.

"Who? I don't what you're talking about. You show up at my place talking some shit about some kidnapping. This is bullshit, and I want my lawyer."

Calmly, Thorne walked over to a corner of the room, where a baseball bat was leaning against the wall. She picked it up and made a point of testing its weight in her hand as she returned to the cage. "AJ Mendez is your friend Zelina Vega's cousin. I think you know that. I also think you know she has been missing for several days. You could hardly have missed it in the news. Vega and her boyfriend Aleister Black were the last people to have any contact with AJ. And since we have a message between you and Black talking about the exchange of five grand for a package, I think you know exactly where AJ is."

"I don't know anything about no package," Almas fired back at her. "What don't you understand about the word lawyer? Lawyer," he repeated, talking slowly, as if communicating with a simpleton.

Thorne opened the cage door and stepped inside. Almas stood up in a rather aggressive manner, receiving a stiff shot to the stomach from the bat for his troubles, sending him collapsing back onto the bench.

"Sit the fuck down!" Thorne barked at him. She put the end of the bat under his chin. "Do I look like I'm here to fuck around, Almas? There's a missing girl out there, and you're going to give me something that leads to where she is. Now!"

"I don't know anything about no missing girl! I keep telling you!" Almas protested, sounding a lot less arrogant all of a sudden.

"You collected what Black referred to as a package from him. Are you telling me that wasn't AJ Mendez?"

"Of course it wasn't! What do you think I am, some kind of pedo?"

"So what was it? And where is it?" Thorne demanded, forcing his head to tilt backwards with the bat.

"What if I did take something from him, but it wasn't a kid?"

"What are you talking about? Drugs?" Cole asked.

"What if I am?"

"Do I look like I'm here to make a drugs bust?" Thorne said. "Tell me everything you know. If you haven't had anything to do with AJ's disappearance, you walk once we make an arrest. How's that for a deal?"

"Get that bat away from me and I'll tell you," Almas promised, eyes wide. The idea of Thorne going to town on him had made him cooperative without her needing to actually do it.

Thorne did as he asked. "I'm listening."

"Aleister told me he had something he needed to hide for a while, said he couldn't move it while it was hot," Almas blabbed. "I told him I could move it and hide it somewhere for him, but I wanted five grand to do it. He went for it, so one night I went over there in a van. He paid me the money, loaded up a big plastic storage container thing, and we went and hid it."

"Where did you hide it?" Thorne asked menacingly.

"I want guarantees I'm not going to get charged with anything. If there was a kid in that box, that's not on me. I thought it was drugs, and I didn't look in there. I swear!"

Cole believed what he was hearing, and he imagined Thorne did too. He was proven right with her response.

"Tell me where to find it, and you walk. Once we've arrested Vega and Black, that is."

"How do I know that's true? I want it in writing!"

"My word will have to do. It's either that or I beat the location out of you and then charge you as an accessory. Pick which one you prefer," Thorne said, brandishing the bat again.

"Alright," Almas relented. "There's a storage unit place on Walker. It's opposite the big Target."

"I know where that is," Martinez said.

"Mine is unit eight. The key is back at my place," Almas said.

"I'm not going to need the key," Thorne assured him as she left the cell and closed the door. "You'll be staying here for now. We'll see about releasing you when we get back, assuming your info is good. You two, with me," she said to Cole and Martinez.

"Hey," Almas called after the group before they could get into one of the SUVs. They turned to look at him. "I might not always stay above the law, but I ain't no child killer. If that's what they did, you lock them up and throw away the key."

"We will," Cole promised. With that, the trio got into the SUV, with Cole behind the wheel.

"What do you make of him?" Martinez asked from the back seat once the doors were shut. With a roar of the engine, the SUV headed up the tunnel.

"Threaten to beat someone half to death with a bat, they usually tell you the truth," Thorne replied. "Needless to say, we do things a bit differently sometimes in Intelligence. You got a problem with that, Martinez?"

"No, ma'am," Martinez said. "I want to find AJ Mendez, hopefully alive. If this makes that happen, that's more than fine with me."

Cole drove in silence, hoping for the best, but fearing the worst.

* * *

Commander Thorne was first through the door into the reception area at the storage company. There was an overweight bald man in a blue company polo shirt working the counter.

"Help you?" he asked.

Thorne showed him her badge. "SCPD. I need you to open one of your units in connection with a kidnapping investigation. Unit eight."

"Don't you need a warrant for that?"

Cole felt his temper fraying. "There could be a kidnapped teenage girl locked in one of your units and you want to worry about a warrant? We can get one, but when we come back here we'll make life very difficult for you."

"It's a lot better to have our gratitude than our attention," Martinez said.

"A kidnapped teenage girl? Alright, I'll help you," the man said, making like it had been his intention all along.

"Unit eight," Thorne reminded him.

The three cops followed the employee through a door to the warehouse full of storage units. Unit eight was only a short walk away. The employee unlocked the roller shutter door and shoved it upwards.

Inside the unit, Cole saw a bunch of meaningless household crap. What caught everyone's attention was a large dark blue plastic storage container that sat in the middle of the floor.

"Get that open," Thorne instructed Cole.

Walking over to the container, Cole took a deep breath, dreading what he might be about to see. He popped the lid. Inside, he found a bunch of black refuse sacks. All of them were full, tied at the top.

"What the hell?" Thorne said.

Cole picked up one of the sacks and tore a wide hole in it to open it. Cat litter started to pour out, but that wasn't what made Martinez cry out, and Cole's stomach turn. As the cat litter drained, it had revealed toes, with red painted nails. The bag contained a severed human foot.

"Christ almighty," Thorne said under her breath.


	5. Chapter 5

Even after ten years in the job, Adam Cole occasionally felt shocked by some of the things he encountered on the job. This was one such occasion. He had been sent outside of the storage company building to call in the relevant people to deal with the horrifying discovery they had made. Somehow, he had managed to do that part okay. It was calling his friend and partner Charlotte Flair that was proving to be difficult.

"Just do it," he told himself. After closing his eyes for a moment, he managed to make himself call Flair's number. She answered almost immediately.

"Adam. You find anything?"

"AJ's dead, Charlotte. They cut her body into fucking pieces and put it in garbage sacks," Cole choked out.

"Jesus Christ," Charlotte breathed, horrified by the news. "AJ's dead," she said, relaying the news to Rollins. Apparently they were together.

"Thorne wants you guys to go arrest Vega and Black. We'll meet you back at the station when we're done here. Can you call sergeant Rousey? She'll need to tell AJ's mom, and probably the press."

"Sure, I'll do that now," Flair said. "Adam, are you okay?"

"No," he replied honestly, before ending the call. He was glad that he wasn't the one going to arrest Vega and Black. He couldn't have trusted himself not to beat one of them half to death for what they had done. He was mentally using the word they, for he couldn't imagine how only one of them could have done something so vile and gruesome without the other knowing about it.

* * *

There was a heavy atmosphere in the Intelligence Division office when Lucy Thorne assembled the team. They were all shocked by the fate that had befallen AJ Mendez. Her body had been found in fourteen pieces, all in garbage sacks. For some reason, they had been packed in cat litter, which had helped to preserve them.

"I feel sick," Clementine said, sitting on the edge of Flair's desk.

"Well all do," Thorne said tenderly. "But the best thing we can do for AJ now is make sure we put together an airtight case on Black and Vega. They deserve life inside for this, and that's what they're going to get. So, here's what's going to happen: Adam and myself are going to interview Vega. Charlotte and Seth, you interview Black. Bayley, Clem I want you to go through the inventory of everything that was recovered in their house. Look for anything incriminating, or anything that might have been used to dismember a body."

"Got it," Martinez said.

"Right, let's go and see what these scumbags have got to say for themselves," Thorne said.

* * *

Zelina Vega sat in an interview room with an impatient look on her face, idly tapping her fingernails on the table. Having been left in there by herself for over half an hour didn't seem to be bothering her in the slightest.

"I'd love to slap that look off her face," Thorne said to Cole. They were looking at the suspected murderer through the two way mirror.

"I hear you," Cole said. "I don't think she has a clue we've found AJ's body. Her attitude is going to change pretty quickly."

"I don't know about that. She seems like a cool customer to me. Let's go and see what she's if she holds up under pressure."

The two cops walked around to the interview room's door, and Thorne led the way inside. As hard as it was to do, she started out politely.

"Hello, Zelina. I'm commander Thorne. We've met before. This is detective Cole. Would you like some water, some food, or a visit to the bathroom before we start?"

"I'll take some water," Vega said casually.

"I'll go and get it," Cole said. Leaving the interview room, he walked down to the nearby canteen, where there was a fridge that was always stocked with bottles of water. He grabbed one and went back to the interview room.

"I don't own a storage container like that. I've never seen one in my house," Vega was saying as he walked back in. She didn't thank him for the water when he handed it to her.

"So you deny any knowledge of Andrade Almas being paid to take that container and put it in his storage locker?" Thorne asked.

"Of course I do. I just told you I've never seen a big blue storage container."

"So you're putting this entirely on your boyfriend, Aleister Black?"

Vega leaned back in her chair, calmly opening her bottle of water. "I didn't say that. You said that."

"Well, inside that storage container that you claim to have never seen in your life, we found your cousin's body," Cole said, sitting down beside Thorne. "It had been cut into fourteen pieces and put into garbage sacks full of cat litter."

"AJ's dead? That's awful," Vega said. She was a good actress, Cole had to admit, but she wasn't going to be changing his mind about her guilt.

"One of the body parts that we found was AJ's head," Thorne said. "There was duct tape wrapped around her head, gagging her. We've gone through your internet history on your phone, your iPad and everything. You watch a lot of porn that involves bondage, most of it featuring duct tape. We also have messages between you and Aleister where you talked about abducting someone."

"You have no such thing," Vega said defiantly.

"Oh yeah? This print out says different," Thorne said, taking a sheet of paper out of a folder that she had brought in with her. It was now sitting on the table. She read from the print out of the messages.

"Zelina, you wrote: 'I'm on the way home. Just saw such a hot girl. I nearly had to pick her up and bring her home.' Aleister responded: 'You should have.' You wrote: 'If I had anything to tie her up with I would have.'"

"Really?" Vega said, raising an eyebrow. "I make a joke in a message to my boyfriend and you think it makes me a murderer? You've got nothing that proves I know anything about a storage container. More importantly, you've got nothing that proves I killed AJ, because I didn't. Now charge me with something or let me get the hell out of here."

"You're going nowhere," Thorne said icily. "But we are. We're going to find out what Aleister has been saying. He may well have given you up by now."

"Yeah, okay," Vega said, talking like she didn't have a care in the world as she took the top off the bottle of water.

Cole followed Thorne out of the interview room. Zelina Vega was seriously pissing him off. But he knew he was going to have the last laugh when she was charged with abduction and murder.

"Right, next step," Thorne said to Cole while they walked back to the Intelligence Division office. "We get Flair and Rollins to tell Black that Vega is throwing him under the bus, saying he killed AJ and got rid of the body, and she knew nothing about it."

"It's worth a try," Cole said. "She's a cool customer though. I think we're going to need something that pins this squarely on her, then she might crack." Reaching the security door to Intelligence, he used the finger print scanner to unlock the door.

"Give me something, guys," Thorne said to Clementine and Bayley when she walked into the office. Martinez was at her desk, with Clem next to her, borrowing Cole's desk.

"We actually have a few things," Clementine reported.

Martinez held up a see-through plastic evidence bag. Inside was a receipt. "This was found in a kitchen cupboard at Vega and Black's house. It's from a hardware store, dated the day after AJ went missing. Look what they bought."

Thorne read aloud from the receipt for Cole's benefit. "Bleach, three bottles. Drain cleaner, two bottles. Rubber gloves, two pairs. Respirator masks, two number. Cloths, one pack. Sponges, one pack. Duct tape, one roll. And a circular saw."

"Everything you'd need to cut up a body and clean up after yourself," Cole said. "Those sick fucks cut AJ up in that bathtub, that's why it was so clean."

"Cut her up with a circular saw," Martinez said faintly, appalled by the thought.

Thorne looked at her daughter and Martinez. "You two get to that hardware store. I want CCTV footage of whoever made this purchase," she said, holding up the evidence bag with the receipt in it. She gave it to Martinez.

"We'll got on it," Clementine said. "We were looking through the list of items that were inventoried, trying to see if the circular saw was recovered."

"I don't remember there being one in the house," Cole said thoughtfully. "There was a shed in the garden though, that uniform ended up searching. Maybe they found it?"

"Keep looking, then get to the hardware store," Thorne ordered the two women.

"There's one more thing," Martinez said. "Those minute blood traces that the crime lab found? They found two matches. AJ was one."

"Keeping me in suspense isn't a good idea, Martinez," Thorne said.

"The other was Zelina Vega. She and Black both gave DNA sample last time they were brought in. Her blood was on AJ's bedroom doorframe."

Thorne and Cole looked at each other. A smile appeared on the commander's face, which was rare while she was working. "We got the bitch," she took pleasure in saying.

We sure did, Cole thought.


	6. Chapter 6

"Let's review what we have and haven't got in terms on evidence," commander Thorne said in preparation for her and detective Cole's upcoming second interrogation of Zelina Vega since her arrest for murder. Simultaneously, detectives Flair and Rollins would be talking to Aleister Black again. The entire Intelligence Division team were currently assembled in the office.

"We haven't got the circular saw," Cole said. It hadn't been recovered from Black and Vega's house, or their shed. It seemed likely that they had somehow disposed of it, knowing that it would be incriminating evidence if things went wrong for them.

"But we do have these," Flair said. Two full face respirator masks were sitting on her desk, contained in large plastic evidence bags.

"Yes. Bayley, I want you to get them to the lab," Thorne ordered. "I want full DNA testing. I'm willing to bet we can recover DNA to prove who was wearing them, and even though they've been cleaned, we might find traces of AJ's blood."

Martinez nodded. "I'll get over there as soon as we're done here."

"We also have the receipt for the bunch of items they bought at the hardware store," Rollins said.

"And CCTV footage of Vega at the checkout, purchasing it all," Clementine added.

"And of course we have Vega's blood on the doorframe of AJ's bedroom," Thorne said. "The bitch thought she had done such a good job of cleaning up after herself. Not quite good enough."

"Don't forget the messages they sent to each other about kidnapping someone," Cole said. "They can try and play it off as a joke, but to me it establishes motive."

"Agreed," Thorne said. "Lastly, we have Andrade Almas, who unknowingly helped Black get rid of the body in that storage container. He has agreed to testify in exchange for all charges against him being dropped."

"It's a damn good case we've got against them," Flair said.

"Yes. But I want a confession, ideally from both of them," Thorne said. "Okay then, dismissed. Charlotte, Seth, go break Black. Adam, you're with me. I'm going to enjoy this."

* * *

Zelina Vega looked annoyed when Thorne and Cole walked back into the interview room. She had been kept there for over two hours, with uniformed officers checking on her regularly, and offering food and bathroom visits. Cole saw the extended delay and the irritation it had caused as a good thing. If Vega lost her cool, she was more likely to slip up, potentially saying something incriminating.

"Well, Zelina, the past couple of hours haven't gone well for you," Thorne said, sitting down at the table.

"Tell me about it. The frozen pizzas you serve are terrible."

"Wisecracks, that's cute," Cole said, sitting next to Lucy. "Let's see what you can do with this one: We found traces of your blood on the doorframe of AJ's bedroom."

Vega's shock was visible for a second before she managed to compose herself and try to bluff it off. "That's not possible."

"It's factual," Thorne said coldly. "Your blood was there, and so was AJ's. You did a great job of cleaning the bathtub you cut her up in, but you weren't quite so thorough in her bedroom. Tell me, how did you feel while you were cutting your cousin into pieces with a circular saw?"

"I didn't kill AJ. I didn't cut up her body. I don't own a circular saw," Vega protested.

Cole said, "Guess what, genius? I'm guessing your boyfriend is a bit stupider than you are. Maybe it was him who unpacked everything you bought from hardware store? Whichever one of you it was had the brilliant idea to leave the receipt in a cupboard for us to find. From that, we now have CCTV from the store of you, Zelina, buying everything on that receipt, including a circular saw."

Vega knew she was in serious trouble. It showed in her eyes, as she tried her to keep her expression unchanged. "I'm saying nothing more without a lawyer."

"At this point, it's going to be in your best interest to tell us what happened and why," Thorne advised her.

"Lawyer," Vega repeated firmly, crossing her arms.

Thorne let out a sigh. Legally, they were not allowed to deny the request. "Okay, we'll get you a lawyer."

* * *

Zelina Vega had been in the interview room with the lawyer who had been appointed to her for almost an hour. Cole wasn't sure if he should take it as a good thing or a bad thing. Whatever was happening in there, the guy wasn't simply telling Vega to say nothing.

The phone on Cole's desk rang, the ringtone indicating an internal call. He picked it up. "Cole."

"Rousey," the sergeant announced. "Zelina Vega's lawyer wants to see you and commander Thorne. We'll meet you at the interview room."

"We're on our way," Cole said. He ended the call, and called out to Lucy, finding it strange how he had to speak to his girlfriend at work. "Boss, Vega is done with her lawyer. He wants to speak to us."

"This is getting interesting," Thorne said from inside her office. She promptly emerged, and they headed for the interview room.

The lawyer assigned to Vega was a tall, grey haired man in his fifties. His name was Parks. Thorne and Cole found him standing with sergeant Rousey a short distance from the interview room where Vega was waiting.

"Mr Parks," Thorne said politely. "You asked to see us?"

"Yes, ma'am. My client intends to make a confession. I have a written statement that she would like to read out to you."

Oh shit, Cole thought. Realising that she was fucked, Vega had decided to opt for the strategy of confessing in the hope of a more lenient sentence. Either that or she was going to try and blame it all on Black, but that was never going to work with the evidence they had against her.

"Okay then, let's go it," Thorne said, moving towards the interview room. She nodded to the sergeant in acknowledgement of her help. For her part, Rousey looked pleased with what she had just heard.

Cole followed Lucy back into the interview room. They found Zelina Vega a changed woman. She had obviously been crying, almost certainly for herself, Cole thought. Nothing about her gave him the impression that she would cry for the innocent victim of her crime.

The attitude of the detectives changed now. The time for aggression towards Vega had passed. They now had to convey themselves as open to listening to the prepared statement.

"Zelina. You have something you would like to read to us?" Thorne asked.

"Yes," Vega mumbled. In front of her, there were several pages of a neatly written statement, likely taken down by the lawyer. It began with the standard legal jargon. Cole waited it out, wanting to get to the heart of the matter.

"The purpose of this statement is for me to confess to killing AJ Mendez," Vega began, struggling to get it out through her self pity. "I wish to make it clear that killing her was not my intention when I went to the house that day. My boyfriend, Aleister Black, and I intended to abduct AJ and take her to our house, where we were going to keep her in our attic."

Jesus, Cole thought. They had intended to keep AJ prisoner, probably as some kind of sex slave.

"We took everything we needed with us," Vega continued. "We had handcuffs, duct tape and a large holdall bag. I also had a ski mask to wear. AJ was small, not even my height. I knew she would fit in the bag, and that would make her easy to transport."

Cole could see that Lucy wanted to start asking questions, but they had to shut up and listen to the statement.

"When Rosa, AJ's mom, had gone out, Aleister went into the rear garden and started mowing the lawn. We wanted him to be doing something that could be seen and heard by neighbours in case we needed an alibi. While he was doing that, I went upstairs, taking the holdall and the other things with me. I put the holdall down outside AJ's door. I put the ski mask on, and got ready with the duct tape. I knocked on the door and asked AJ if I could see her for a minute. When she opened the door, I pounced on her straight away. I was able to wrestle her to the floor quite easily because I took her by surprise, but she started fighting back, and trying to scream."

The poor girl must have been terrified, Cole thought with a shudder.

"After punching her a couple of times, I was able to tape her mouth up. That was the first thing I knew I had to do. Unfortunately, just as I was finishing doing that, she managed to pull my mask off. She punched me in the face, and I got a nosebleed. She was also bleeding after one of the punches I hit her with. That must be how both of our blood ended up on the wall and the doorframe. When she pulled my mask off, I panicked because she had seen me. That wasn't part of the plan, so I held her down and pinched her nose. With the tape over her mouth, she couldn't breathe. I held her like that until I knew she was dead."

Jesus Christ, Cole thought. What a horrid way for a totally innocent girl to die.

Vega had finished her statement. She put the pages on the table and used a tissue to wipe her eyes.

"What happened next?" Thorne asked, showing no emotion, although she had to be appalled by what they had heard.

"I went and told Aleister what had happened," Vega said. "He was seriously freaked out. Killing AJ wasn't the plan, like I said. We realised we had to clean up and get the body out of there before Rosa came home, so that's what we did. We took her phone and her iPad too, to make it look like she ran away."

"Where are those items now? We haven't recovered them," Cole said.

"I don't know. Aleister got rid of them. I don't know how or where, I didn't ask him."

"Did you transport AJ's body in the holdall?" Thorne asked.

"Yes, in the holdall, in the trunk of our car. When we got home, we took her out of the bag and put her in the bathtub. It took us a while to decide what to do with her. Aleister wanted to drive her out somewhere and throw her in a ditch. But I said it would be a better idea to cut her up, hide the body parts somewhere for a while, then bury them all in separate locations once the heat had died down."

"So you went to the hardware store and bought everything you needed?" Thorne asked, although she already knew the answer.

"That's right. Then when I got home, Aleister cut up the body and I packaged the pieces up in the garbage sacks. I put them in cat litter to stop them smelling while they were hidden."

"Then Aleister contacted Andrade Almas to stash what he thought were drugs for you?" Cole said.

"Right. So, I've told you everything. Do you think this will help to get me a lesser sentence?" Vega asked hopefully.

Thorne answered the question honestly. "I sincerely hope not."

I couldn't agree more, Cole thought. If he was a judge, he would have sentenced the evil bitch to life. But he wasn't a judge. His part in the case was now pretty much over. It felt good to have cracked the case. At least AJ Mendez and her family would have justice.

END


End file.
